The vampires are mythical beings who exist by consuming blood of living creatures. Most commonly vampires are defined as bloodsucking ghosts or reanimated bodies of dead persons believed to have come from the grave and wander about at night sucking the blood of persons who are asleep, and therefore bringing their life to an end. They are draining the living from their life essence and feeding on their fears.

Vampires are prominent figures in folkloric tales recorded in most of the countries. The vampiric superstition received it’s form with the popularization with the term „vampire“, based upon legends that circled around the Balkans and Eastern Europe, popularized in the early 18th century by the spreading of the superstition and through art in Western Europe. The exact etymology of the word is unclear, but is prominent in every Balkan and Slavic language and has roots in other civilizations through the ages. At first vampires were described as bloated and their skin was purple, which was attributed to sucking blood, unlike today’s portrayal of gaunt, pale vampires. It was commonly known that people who committed suicide or practiced occult spiritualities, would leave behind an evil spirit when they died, which could be captured inside a corpse.

In the beginning of 18 century there have been evidenced the practice of exhuming bodies and „killing vampires" from the local folk tales of the people in northern parts of Serbia. One of the overly acknowledged incidents about vampires in that region is the report signed by Johannes Fluckinger of the Austrian government from 7th January 1732, detailing about the investigation of vampirism in Serbia. The text consists of the unusual deaths in the village of Meduegna, and the statements of Arnold (Paole) Paul, who claimed that he has been bitten by a vampire and died after the confrontation with the beast. The local folk believe that he had risen from the grave and continued the murdering spree.

Some people believe that undead vampires visited their loved ones and caused mischief and deaths terrorizing the neighbourhoods and homes they inhabited when they were still alive. Local variations of the term were known throughout whole Europe, such as „vrykolakas“ in Greece, „strigoi“ in Romania, „karakondzuli“ in Macedonia. The local superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria resulting in staking corpses, as a precaution that the undead won’t come back to live. In some countries in Eastern Europe (Russia, Romania) it is believed that potential revenants can be identified at birth by some abnormality, some defect, like a child that is born with teeth.

Due to inferior medical knowledge, some have speculated that people who were buried alive have significant part in the contribution to the vampire mythology. There are cases where scratches from the person's fingernails were seen in the inside of the coffin, interpreted as the deceased person coming back to life, as opposed to being buried alive. At some grave sites in Bulgaria were found decomposed bodies that were buried with wooden stakes through the hearts and stones in their mouths. Villagers around the world thought that perhaps the recently deceased might be responsible for the curse bestowed upon them and have come back from the graves with evil intent. That’s why graves were unearthed, and driven by the lack of knowledge, science and reek of prejudice, villagers mistook ordinary decomposition processes for supernatural phenomenon. For example, they assumed that a body would decompose immediately, if the coffin is well sealed and buried in winter, putrefaction might be delayed by weeks or months; intestinal decomposition creates bloating which can force blood up into the mouth, making it look like a dead body has recently sucked blood.

The physical feature of vampires can be contributed to the process that a body undergoes at death. A slow decomposition, bleeding from the mouth, dehydration and retraction of the skin is assumed to originate the vampiric tendencies of sucking blood and pale skin.

The vampire was, is and always will be a dominant figure in the horror genre.